9 comments:

Doug Floor Plan
said...

I believe the general consensus is that this is a very nice but safe WASP-style house & the loss of the elm trees next to it really takes away from the house. I’m glad this safe, WASP Pratt house has survived with few exterior alterations & still has a decent amount of real estate around it.

I looked on Wikimapia to see if anyone has marked where the Pratt Oval was & couldn’t find it. Is it marked? Can someone describe where it was? Thanks.

dfp, for the pratt oval all that seems to remain is the tower from the main building standing rather forlorn in a side yard, and as you look north toward long island sound on the right side a couple of warehouse type buildings that were originally barns. over the past couple of years there has been some mention in a couple of articles ( like town and country, and country life etc.) about the pratt's and the pratt oval amongst other esttaes and families

Doug, on Bing maps the aerial view of Pratt Oval shows the green roofed tower standing forlornly in a backyard and this aerial view here, courtesy of our friend DED shows it in its heyday with the tower as part of the central block at the north end of the complex.

Thank you very much for the links & information HPHS, LGB, & Anon 3:50pm. It must be interesting to own the house on Ellen Ct. & have a relic tower from a great estate in your otherwise modern residential back yard -- quite a conversation piece not to mention how do you cover it under your homeowner insurance? Although it’s kind of sad to see I’m glad it’s still there so that, if nothing else, you can anchor the location & compare it with the black & white photo. Still, you always wish fate had been kinder.

I believe the owner of the remaining tower utilizes it as a pool house; I seem to recall reading that somewhere.

As for the administration building, it's mislabeled on Wikimapia; the clock tower stood over the entrance to the now-demolished admin building. The building indicated is one of four duplex stables; two on either side of the oval, with a dairy & employee clubhouse at the other end.